Chapter 30

As for the reason, it was very simple. It was because of the world’s setting.

The second male lead must love the protagonist shou, above all other things.

The second male lead must protect the protagonist shou from harm, to the extent of disregarding all else.

The second male lead must believe the protagonist shou, even if all others disbelieved him.

This was a basic setting, typical of any Mary Sue novel. Because in these novels the protagonist would never lie, cheat or do anything to harm others.

This world and the first world had some crucial differences. In the first world, Chen Heng had never deliberately tried to lie to Xie Xian. He was only confused, himself affected by the world’s setting of ‘being in love with Sun YuZhu’. So in that world he too was affected by the butterfly effect caused by Lin JunYi’s actions and broke the world’s setting himself by begging for love from Xie Xian. It was his actions, and not just Lin JunYi’s influence, that led to Xie Xian’s breakthrough. When the crux of the world, the center-point of the ‘setting’, began to act OOC, then of course everything else would quickly collapse. 

Of course once Xie Xian ‘woke up’, it would simply be that he no longer loved Chen Heng. He had no reason to fall in love with Lin JunYi - unless of course those feelings arose genuinely out of his own heart. 

But Lin JunYi also knew that his role was not simply to create a ‘butterfly effect’ as 729 claimed. He knew that there was also some type of direct link between himself and Xie Xian, that didn’t exist with the other characters. Because afterward the two people got together, Xie Xian had told Lin JunYi that he often had headaches every time he thought about leaving Chen Heng. The headache slowly disappeared after coming into contact with Lin JunYi and he was able to act and think more freely again. Hence Lin JunYi theorized that the headaches were some type of mechanism of the world trying to cloud his brain and true personality. As for why being close to Lin JunYi would directly affect and erode it, he didn’t have enough information yet and wasn’t sure.

However it led him to believe that even if Chen Heng didn’t act OOC and collapse the setting on his own, eventually he would have helped Xie Xian walk out from under that shadow regardless.

Except it would take much, much longer.

Right now in this world, Ruan Xi has also undergone drastic changes in personality and motivation. However his change was not something that was obvious to Yu Xian. On the surface he could, if he so chose, continue to believe that Ruan Xi was a little bit foolish and had been tricked by the Sixth Prince previously, but that overall he was still the same person he’d always known him to be: gentle, honest, self-sacrificing and loving.

Unless of course he chose to go the total opposite way and believe the only other option available to him: that Ruan Xi was lying and deliberately trying to frame the Ninth Prince, to the point of wishing him dead.

But to go from believing one extreme to the other required a vast mental break from the world’s setting. It was a lot more difficult than Xie Xian’s simple: ‘Does Chen Heng love me or Sun YuZhu?’

Hence Lin JunYi knew that in this battle between himself and the world’s setting, he was destined to lose.

Lin JunYi twisted his lips bitterly and thought, in his usual flippant manner to cover up the pain in his heart: Probably I still needed to sleep with Yu Xian a couple more dozen times.

***

Another week later, 729’s warning woke Lin JunYi up in the middle of the night. “The second male lead is here!”

Lin JunYi’s heart leapt but then rationality squashed it back down to pulp. He sat up on the bed as the maids and guards were dispatched into the realm of unconsciousness. Yu Xian wasn’t a shadow guard, his movements would definitely raise notice. They only had a limited amount of time.

Hence when Yu Xian strode into the Ninth Prince’s chambers, he saw the curtains around the bed part and the Ninth Prince step out. He was only wearing a black sleeping robe and the darkness of the silk stood up in sharp relief against the milky whiteness of his skin. His long hair fell like ink down his back and his face was as coldly beautiful as moonlight.

Yu Xian said stiffly, “Come with me, we don’t have a lot of time. At daybreak, the imperial guards will formally arrest you and put you into jail.”

The thought of this lofty dragonling being chained in that filthy place made his heart twist with agony, so without thinking he rushed here to rescue him before that could happen.

Lin JunYi didn’t reply. Instead he walked over to the table and poured himself tea. Yu Xian said desperately, “Did you hear me?! Any minute now…”

“I heard you.” Lin JunYi lifted the already cold tea to his lips. He thought he should enjoy the luxuries he had whilst he still had a chance. “But why should I run away? After all, I haven’t done anything wrong.”

There was a long silence. In the half-darkness, Lin JunYi lifted his long phoenix eyes and gazed at Yu Xian calmly. “But you don’t believe that, do you?”

Yu Xian walked towards him slowly. He stood next to the table and looked down at that demonically good looking creature which looked carved from moonlight and darkness. He wanted to make up some excuse, explain himself at length, but in the end he swallowed all of his words back. In the end it was useless to say any of these things. So he softly only said, “No.”

Lin JunYi half closed his eyes as a sour feeling spread through his body and his heart twisted painfully. Even though this was the result he anticipated, he couldn’t help the mocking smile that rose to his lips. “Very good Yu Xian, I’ll remember this.”

Yu Xian suddenly kneeled down behind him and embraced him from the back. “Ah-Yi, please don’t do this. Let me take you away and keep you safe! I know that compared to the throne and the other things you want, what I can give you is only paltry, but surely it is better than going to jail and perhaps worse! Let me protect you...”

These words felt like icicles stabbing into Lin JunYi’s heart. He twisted his body and pulled away coldly. He said, “So this is the kind of person you think I am.”

Yu Xian gazed at him silently. At this time they heard footsteps echo quickly outside as though there were a lot of people heading that way. Lin JunYi looked at Yu Xian, it was his last chance to run away if he wanted to avoid being caught. But Yu Xian didn’t move, just stared at him with the attitude of ‘I’ll go down with you’.

However this didn’t soften Lin JunYi’s proud, wounded heart in the slightest. He only waited, sipping his tea quietly as the imperial guards streamed into the room. When they saw their leader sitting there, with his arms still around the Ninth Prince, they froze and seemed at a loss as to what to do.

Lin JunYi seized this opportunity. “I want to speak to the Emperor. I’m ready to confess.”

***

Of course he was not going to confess. But he needed the opportunity to see the Emperor. Yu Xian personally handcuffed him with a heavy face and then led him to the assembly hall after obtaining the Emperor’s permission. Only the Emperor and several dozens more imperial guards were present.

The Emperor sat high on the throne with his face shadowed behind the veil of dangling jewels that fell from his crown as he gazed down at his favorite son with a complex expression. Although he didn’t want to believe that this child would try to assassinate him, the evidence was too much. Also he wasn’t blind and was acquainted with the Ninth Prince’s nature. Although it seemed that he had changed of late, it was all too easy to believe that it was an act he could no longer keep up…

“Yi’er, are you ready to confess?”

Lin JunYi knelt down on the cold floor. Yu Xian had put an outer coat around him so he wasn’t too cold. “Father Emperor, I am. But not to the crime of trying to commit regicide or even of faking my illness. However this child is guilty of a crime. For quite some time now this child has known that this child’s illness is not natural, that in fact this child is being poisoned. But I dared not speak of it, because of the ramifications of my actions until now. If this child had not been backed into a corner, this child would never have spoken of it.”

There was a long pause. Standing behind Lin JunYi, Yu Xian froze in horror and disbelief. This statement was also something that the Emperor had not expected. There was already an inkling in his heart but he asked anyway, “Who is the person who you are accusing of poisoning you?”

“It is her Highness, the Empress.”

Another long silence followed. The Emperor had expected this. The two people who had stood out to speak against the Ninth Prince were the highly respected Minister Ruan Xi of the Internal Bureau and the Empress. It stood to reason that if the Ninth Prince wished to claim he was being framed, he could only accuse one of the two. Minister Ruan Xi would have little opportunity to frame him but the Empress…

“I have evidence.” Lin JunYi spoke again. 

This time the Emperor’s eyes sharpened. “What kind of evidence?”

“The Emperor has already had multiple imperial physicians check my body, however none have been able to find evidence of my illness and thus can only conclude that I have been faking it this entire time. But to this I will add a strange symptom that I haven’t told anyone before: that each time I will have a strange dream. In my dream I cannot move and I feel there is someone sitting on my chest and trying to strangle me. Because of the asphyxiation, I wake up.”

When he heard this, the Emperor suddenly jerked on the throne. He even dropped a bamboo scroll he was holding in his hand and it clattered to the ground. His personal eunuch was startled. “Your Majesty!?”

The Emperor waved him off. Only he and Lin JunYi knew the reason - because the Emperor had the exact same symptom. It was mentioned in the original book and the Emperor had never told anyone about it. In fact the Emperor always felt it was a personal curse and that it was the spirit of one of his brothers whom he had killed in the fight for the throne that had come back to haunt him and punish him periodically.

“Afterwards this child realized that this dream always coincided with two days after the medicine prescribed by Imperial Physician Li was given to me. After some extensive investigation, I realized that Imperial Physician Li is the childhood friend of the Empress, and they were even engaged to each other as children. If his Majesty sends people quickly to the town of Zhuang, in the southern part of the Empire, there are several old servants there that should be able to attest to it. At the time the Empress’ name was Rong MeiYu. She was originally a merchant’s daughter and exchanged identities with another noblewoman in order to come to court. Her old nanny can attest to her identity and can even identify some birthmarks on Rong MeiYu’s body.”

In fact there was plenty of evidence there to find and the Empress even had a lot of relatives left in Zhuang Town. This was of course all from the book and was originally discovered by Ruan Xi. As for why nobody figured it out before him - well that was just the world’s setting.

The Ninth Prince’s statement sent shockwaves off. The Emperor, recalling that he too obtained medicine from Imperial Physician Li two days before the onset of his ‘dreams’, immediately ordered an investigation. Yu Xian went personally and although the rumor quickly spread to the Sixth Prince’s ears, he wasn’t able to beat Yu Xian since had already sacrificed most of his shadow guards in the assassination attempt.

Yu Xian not only brought back Rong MeiYu’s nanny but even her two younger sisters. Full of hate for the older sister who abandoned them, they brought back a myriad of evidence including portraits painted of the Empress when she was young, her childhood poetry which matched her writing style and even letters between her and Imperial Physician Li which matched both of their writing. And of course the nanny was familiar with the Empress’ birthmarks, including one in between her buttocks that only very intimate with her would have seen before.

In any case all of this was just a formality. The Emperor had already ascertained her guilt the moment he realized his symptoms were the same as the Ninth Prince’s. 

Once the Empress and Imperial Physician Li collapsed, so did the Ninth Prince’s ‘plot’. Using the strange symptom and after having Yu Xian torture Imperial Physician Li, the Emperor was able to discover that this was indeed a poison that was extremely exotic and difficult to detect, belonging to the ancient Southern Kingdom which the Empress and Imperial Physician Li were from.

The Emperor had been poisoned in only a very low dose and hence could make a full recovery, although the new expert summoned by the Emperor told him that, because his body had already been primed, if the Empress chose to increase the dose suddenly, that he would immediately die within two to three years.

The Ninth Prince was different. Not only had his poisoning begun when he was only a child and much more vulnerable and weak, but his dose was much higher. Imperial Physician Li had not lied about one thing. The Ninth Prince would certainly not live to a ripe old age. Even if he had already stopped taking it several months ago, and even if he cultivated his body to the best of his ability, he would probably not live past 30.

With a heavy and agonized face, the Emperor said, “30? That is not enough but it will have to be.”

The next day he made the announced that the Ninth Prince was to be crowned as the Crown Prince.

Lin JunYi also didn’t demur or reject the Emperor’s attempt to try to assuage his guilt and make it up for him by giving him this ‘gift’ he didn’t really want. Since anyway it would prove useful down the road.

But he also asked for something extra.

As he approached his Palace after a morning spent in conference with the Emperor, he encountered the red-eyed Yu Xian who had been kneeling outside in the pouring rain for the entire day and night. An eunuch had informed him that Yu Xian had arrived yesterday during midday wanting to speak to him but Lin JunYi had told him that he had nothing to say to Young General Yu. Later on, the eunuch had sent another message saying that Young General Yu wouldn’t leave without seeing him so Lin JunYi had twisted his lips and said, completely without guilt, “Let him wait then.”

Right now when Yu Xian saw him his originally pale and bloodless face became red and lively again. It was as though he had seen a ray of light in the darkness, or a God descending from heaven. His eyes when he looked at Lin JunYi was filled with the light of a fervent worshipper as well as the guilt of an erstwhile lover. In this entire world, there wasn’t anyone else who could enter his eyes. He kowtowed low and opened his cracked lips…

But before he could speak, apologize, or beg, Lin JunYi threw something at his head.

It was a golden scroll.

With a bad premonition, Yu Xian opened it and stared down at it with bloody eyes.

Above him, Lin JunYi said quietly, “What I promised you. The marriage edict between you and Minister Ruan. Congratulations.”